Apr 21, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
The Missouri House refusal to fund voter-approved Medicaid expansion reminds me of a long Missouri legislative tactic of “kicking the can down the road” involving state funding for Medicaid. The Federal Medicaid program requires a state to provide matching...
Apr 14, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
We are coming down to the final weeks of the 2021 legislative session, and some of the most important work is still to come. By law, the Missouri General Assembly has only one job, which is to craft the state’s operating budget each year. The budget always starts in...
Apr 14, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
“Shall not be infringed” is a critical phrase in the 2nd Amendment. Our right to keep and bear arms is one held dear across North Missouri. Hunting, target shooting, and most importantly, self-defense, are just a few of the reasons why. When President Biden ran for...
Apr 14, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
Last year, the federal government passed the CARES Act as a reaction to the Covid outbreak. One component of the CARES Act was to mail out checks to millions of Americans to try to make up for a loss of income and spur spending that might help businesses. These...
Apr 9, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
Several years ago, I walked into a fellow legislator’s office to ask her a question, and on her desk I saw a four-feet tall stack of about 20-30 books. When I asked what the books were for, she said, “I’m on the Budget Committee, and that’s the budget.” There is...
Apr 9, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
The debate about changing U.S. Senate filibuster rules demonstrates how different that chamber is from Missouri’s Senate. Missouri Senate rules make it more difficult to kill a bill by a filibuster. Unlike the U.S. Senate, a filibustering Missouri senator must...
Apr 9, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
On March 29, 1973, the last US combat troops left Vietnam, ending eight years of direct intervention in the war and decades of American involvement in the conflict. All told, the conflict cost more than 58,000 American lives, and tens of thousands more returned home...
Mar 31, 2021 | Legislation, Opinion
By Taylor Freeman, Missouri News Network Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would overturn a voter-approved minimum wage increase plan after only its third year in action. The Special Committee on Small Business has heard House Bill 726. The bill proposes...
